Play Fight

2023
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 × 48 in

Play Fight explores what it means to fight for love—and the different kinds of strength that fight can require.

The boy stands with his fists raised against a wall of balloons. But you cannot punch your way through a balloon. Force is almost useless here. A small needle, used with precision, can accomplish what all that strength cannot. The image becomes a metaphor: sometimes the obstacles separating us from love, acceptance, and understanding cannot be overcome through force. They require a different kind of intelligence, patience, and vulnerability.

The work also considers the complicated relationship between Black youth and tenderness. Society can teach young Black boys that they must be tough to survive while simultaneously making them feel they have to fight to be seen as worthy of gentleness, affection, and care. They learn to protect themselves, even while searching for the freedom to give and receive love.

Play Fight asks a difficult question: How do you fight for love without allowing the fight to harden you?

The balloons suggest that perhaps the answer is not always greater force. Sometimes strength is knowing when to put your fists down, find another way through, and protect the tenderness that remains.